Online shopping growth beats physical stores

Online spending in New Zealand is up 7 per cent on the previous year, outpacing growth in physical stores. Photo / AP

Online retail spending continues to grow, with March spending up 11 per cent on the previous year according to the latest BNZ online retail sales report.

The survey found online spending in New Zealand alone was up 7 per cent on the previous year, outpacing growth in physical stores with sales growth up 5 per cent based on electronic card transactions.

The strong overall growth was largely boosted by food and liquor sales, up 23 per cent, and electrical goods, up 17 per cent. The two categories collectively made up around half of the increase in total online spending in the last 12 months.

The biggest growth was seen at international online sites with growth up 18 per cent on the same month last year, and according to the survey this would continue to grow.

"Regardless of the weakening in the NZD vs the USD, online spending at offshore sites is still growing extremely strongly - up 18 per cent on the monthly spending in March 2014," the survey said.

"Online spending at international merchants for the March quarter is up $40 million on the same 3 months last year. 60 per cent of that increase was driven by clothing, computers and peripherals, electrical and electronic goods, entertainment media and specialised foods including supplements."

In an earlier report, BNZ said the US and the United Kingdom were the most significant online sales sites accounting for 30 per cent and 18 per cent respectively of overseas spending.